In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Becky Liggero, Assaf Stieglitz talks how progressive robots and chatbots may soon change everything.

Loading the player...

As an industry ripe for innovation, online gambling is always on the lookout for that spark of creativity that will shake the market.

For Assaf Stieglitz, founder and owner of Odds1x2.com, things like progressive robots and chatbots have the capability “to change everything.”

As computer programs designed to simulate how a human would behave in a conversation, chatbots are used by operators to interact with users through messaging apps.

“Now, it’s very hard for betting apps to go into app stores, and messaging apps are all over the place, and you can set the scenario when someone is asking the chatbot which is basically an artificial intelligence and machine learning, what are the best odds for a certain game, get the reply from the chatbot and even place the bet using the API of the operator,” Stieglitz told CalvinAyre.com.

Aside from robots, Stieglitz believes that mobile and virtual reality are “the next step for the industry.”

Stieglitz owns Odds1x2.com, a sports betting odds comparison company that operates in partnership with betting sites through affiliation, which, incidentally, is currently experiencing a wave of mergers and acquisitions with media companies like Catena Media and XLMedia buying affiliates left and right.

This trend, according to Stieglitz, is making things hard for smaller affiliates.

“These media companies have a large power because they are big companies and they have a lot to spend. They are making it hard for the smaller affiliates in this way,” he said.

For his part, Stieglitz admitted to have been on the receiving end of some offers, which he said he declined.

“I got two acquisition offers this year but the valuation that I got was less than what I was expecting to because our firm is based on affiliation and technology and these companies, the media companies are looking at the bottom line and it’s hard for them to see the real potential of technology and what’s going to be in the future,” Stieglitz said.

Comments

views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com

Resources

The Ayre Media Group is based in Antigua in the West Indies with teams in London, Manila and Vancouver covering the global gambling industry.Along with ensuring fair coverage of the gambling industry we highlight the great work of the Calvin Ayre Foundation.